At some point, making an electric car brutally quick stopped being enough. Tesla has therefore fitted the new Roadster with the automotive equivalents of a vacuum cleaner and a jet pack. One version can cling to the ground with a powered fan, another adds cold-gas thrusters, and the wildest is designed to leave the ground altogether. Subtle it is not. Memorable? Absolutely.
Tesla’s newly updated UK Roadster page presents three levels of escalating mischief. Performance is the two-seat, road-ready version with active aerodynamics and a multi-mode suction system. Thrust adds rear-mounted cold-gas propulsion and claims 0-60mph in under one second. Rocket surrounds a single-seat car with thrusters for forward, upward and rotational movement. Tesla’s own description finishes with the sort of sentence usually reserved for children holding toy aeroplanes: yes, it can fly.
The giant fan deserves top billing
The flying act will dominate every conversation, yet the suction system may be the more interesting engineering. Tesla says powered fans pull air from beneath the floor while seals help create enough low pressure to hold the car upside down even when it is stationary. Active wings then vary the aerodynamic balance, while Track Mode lowers the car and allows high-downforce or low-drag settings.
Traditional aerodynamic grip needs speed. A wing cannot do much while the car waits at the end of the pit lane looking expensive. A powered fan can generate downforce before the tyres have turned, which makes its potential usefulness broader than a launch-party stunt. The principle is gloriously physical: rather than asking the air flowing over the body for help, the car actively hoovers itself towards the tarmac.
There is also something refreshing about Tesla spending engineering effort on cornering. Electric performance has become trapped in a pub game of acceleration statistics, where another tenth disappears and everybody pretends their internal organs are grateful. Downforce available at very low speed could change how the car turns and brakes, provided the system remains predictable and does not turn road debris into expensive confetti.
Thrust is outrageous; Rocket changes the category
The Thrust version keeps two seats but adds rear cold-gas thrusters operated by electric actuators. Tesla claims the result will reach 60mph in less than a second. That figure is sufficiently absurd to stop being relatable. Nobody needs a comparison with a family hatchback; the relevant question becomes whether your neck signed the same reservation agreement.
Rocket goes further by placing thrusters around the car, allowing movement in several directions while airborne. It has one seat, is invite-only and, rather crucially, is not approved for public-road use. Tesla also warns that Rocket availability will vary by region. The UK page says the Roadster will be left-hand drive only, so British buyers are already being asked to accept inconvenience before gravity enters the negotiation.
Calling Rocket a road car would therefore miss the joke and the legal footnote. It is closer to a wheeled engineering demonstrator: a machine built to show what Tesla and SpaceX technology can do when practicality is told to wait outside. That does not make it pointless. Car culture needs outrageous experiments, especially in an era when too many electric launches differ mainly in screen size and charging curves. It does mean the airborne version should be judged as spectacle rather than transport.
There is still a sports car beneath the theatre
The design brief contains serious ideas. Tesla describes a fixed seat position and manual controls to save mass, plus magnesium, titanium and carbon fibre in the structure. The cabin uses a steer-by-wire yoke, one central touchscreen and two smaller forward displays. Hidden lamps, flush aerodynamic devices and a full-width rear light keep the body clean until the active hardware emerges.
That combination could produce a fascinating Performance model even without a single puff of compressed gas. A lighter two-seat EV with active aero and instant fan-generated downforce would already be far more adventurous than another heavy grand tourer wearing a heroic power figure. The car does not need to perform an aerial roll to justify itself.
Tesla has restored something electric performance desperately needed: theatre. Now comes the less glamorous challenge of turning the show into a usable machine. If Performance delivers the fan technology in a coherent sports car, the Roadster could matter. If the rocket tricks remain the whole story, it will be an unforgettable flying circus with nowhere sensible to land.
Sources
- New Tesla Roadster: rocket-power, ability to fly and crazy acceleration
- Roadster – Electric Sports Car | Tesla United Kingdom
We are experienced automotive journalists and editors, with a passion for all things automotive. Whether it’s automotive news and reviews, the latest in EV technology, or just an unusual take on the latest models, we’re all over it!
